I got rid of mine several years ago. I got fed up with it interfering with software installations and slowing my computer right down. I realise it left me vulnerable so I don’t put discs in my machines I don’t trust. I don’t install programs except from reputable sources. I don’t click on attachments unless it is a document or picture from someone I know very well and I have to open it. On the other hand I keep windows updated with the latest patches. I keep a firewall running. I run spyware checking programs regularly. I realise I am risking one major PITA for the sake of avoiding a niggle, but there you go. That is me.
So I was wondering: how common is it to risk running a pc without anti virus software? Am I alone?
I appreciate you take sensible precautions. But you have to compare the time invested in anti-virus with the time taken to recover from a hard disc corruption.
I never open unexpected attachments either. However once I was expecting an e-mail from a colleague. His machine was infected and spewed out infected e-mails to all in his address book with a simple header + message. So I got a virus.
I am a born-again believer in massive protection. Like the OP, I deinstalled antivirus years ago because it got in the way, and hey, I’m a computer professional, I know what I’m doing. To make a long story short, that was a bad thing. I spent so much time dealing with virus and malware infections last fall that I will never again run a Windows box without spyware, antivirus and firewall protection.
I’ve never had anti-virus software or anti-popup software. And I’ve never had a virus or a pop-up. If you follow two simple rules, you’ll have similar luck:
a) always keep your software (especially Windows) up to date with the latest patches.
b) never run anything you don’t absolutely trust. “run” includes opening attachments, allowing browser plugin installations, etc.
I didn’t care about anti-virus until recently. I had McAfee, but wasn’t subscribed so it was completely out-of-date and I couldn’t even scan with it anymore. Then I got an e-mail from a former friend, and against my better judgement opened the attachment that came with it. Yup, a virus.
I formatted my computer (Not because of that, it needed to be done anyways–I just happened to get infected shortly before I was planning to) and got AVG for free. And I’m going to keep it updated.
Two problems with this mindset: first is, if you follow tech news, you know that MS doesn’t always jump right on every discovered vuln out there, sometimes it takes months for them to close holes (like the ones that infected Outlook from simply previewing the message). And second is–if you don’t do anything online you ddon’t totally trust, then you are basically declaring most of the internet off-limits to yourself. And third is–if anyone who is not aware as you “uses your computer for a sec”, they can undo the sum of all your moral fortitude in a matter of seconds, losing gigabytes of your files in the process.
…
It is easiest in my mind to just pay for a subscription to a good AV service; it probably takes me 3-4 hours at least to get everything back onto my PC the way I want it if I need to reformat, so if the AV saves me just once it’s worth the price.
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-Or you could get a Mac or use Linux I guess.
But then you’re stuck playing crap games, and I can’t live with that.
~
There are many viruses that come directly to you when you’re on a network and the only way to protect yourself is run antivirus. And updates often come after the viruses are released.
I’ve never had the slightest performance issue due to a virus program. I’m guessing you were dealing with older versions, but anything you install today is not going to affect performance in any way.
Why have to reinstall your software or files from backup when the entire issue could be avoided?
I have Norton Corporate AV, plus, there is a firewall in our router. I use Netscape for e-mail and internet and never open attachments or e-mails from someone I don’t know. I haven’t seen the virus window pop up in ages and ages. All my AdAware and Search & Destroy scans have turned up nothing, every time.
Can’t be bothered. Nothing on my home computer is worth worrying about; I use it to surf the net and play games. If a virus were to pose a problem, I would reformat the hard drive and start over.
My laptop’s a work computer; it uses virus protection out the ass, but I have no say in that. In any event, it HAS valuable files on it, and is more vulnerable, so it needs protection.
I have a bundle from McAfee. Virus-scan, Personal Firewall Plus, SpamKiller, and Privacy Service. I run the Virus-scan once or twice a week, and I run Ad-Aware once a week. Twice, before I got all that stuff, I was virused. I had to ditch everything and start from scratch. I prefer the minor rituals to total wipeout.
Um, “mindset” (and your later implication that I don’t “follow tech news”) kind of implies I’m somewhat ignorant in the subject, which I’m not. Here is what I do for a living.
a) Microsoft has gotten pretty good at jumping right on security issues as they’re discovered.
b) There’s a pretty standard timeline in vulnerabilities: first someone sharp discovers the vulnerability. Typically these people don’t write compromise software themselves; their big joy is having found a flaw. They’ll publish their find either by word of mouth or on a news group or such. Next someone else will write a program or script that takes advantage of it for their own amusement. Typically, these people don’t infect people either; they’re demonstrating how clever they are for their community. Finally, some script kiddie will get the code, and use it to break things. These people get their fun from breaking things; they aren’t really smart enough to find flaws in the first place. The thing is that there’s a fair amount of time between the vulnerability being discovered and it being exploted. And as it flows down the hacker food chain, it’s also typically discovered by the software companies that are exploited, giving them at least a little time to develop a patch.
c) Anyway, all this is irrelevant, as the vast majority of viruses (and I do mean vast majority) aren’t caused by software flaws; they’re caused by people executing things they shouldn’t be. And no patch will fix that.
d) The specific vulnerability you mention was interesting from a technical perspective, but I’m unaware of a single resultant real-world infection. And I watch for these sorts of things.
This is just silliness. Here is a baseline trust: don’t run anything that isn’t published by a reputable company. And don’t open any active attachments ever. Unless they’re sent by someone you completely trust, and frankly anyone who sends you such things is likely not trustable. I’m not talking about “trustable” in the sense that you would let them watch your house while you’re out of town; I’m talking about trusting them to be computer-savvy enough to understand what’s reasonable computer security. I.e. only trust those people who like you have never had an infection because they follow the same rules.
That’s it. Only open active things from reputable companies and reputable friends. That’s hardly shutting yourself off from the internet.
I would have thought it was implied when I said “don’t install anything you don’t trust”, I also meant, “don’t let anyone else install anything you don’t trust”.
Well, bully for you and your mind. This is also the course I recommend for my grandparents. AV is very important for less-than-expert users. There’s good reason a lot of people buy AV software. However, most people I know in the software security industry think it’s kind of silly if you just use common sense.
I mean, think about it: AV software is akin to hiring someone to come into your house every day and check if anything has been stolen by thieves. It’s simpler and far wiser to just lock the door when you’re out.
I, for one, welcome our new Virus and Malware overlords.
But seriously folks,
I use:
Norton Internet Security 2005
Ad-Aware
Spybot
PeerGuardian (blocks connections to RIAA and MPAA related IPs)
and for while I used BlackIce firewall as well (it aint the killer app it used to be)
I need to renew my subscription to Norton but have been telling it to sod off the past couple weeks when it’s asked me to. I’m too lazy to sign off and call the number… for some reason, it won’t let me do it online.
I’m another one who doesn’t use anti-virus software and figures he can count on his own smrtness to avoid 99% of the risk anyway.
Here’s a possibly ignorant question though. Folks have talked a little about e-mail attachments causing problems just by having previewed the e-mail itself? We’re talking about e-mail and attachments that have been downloaded to the compute already, yes? If I’m using a web-based e-mail (not POP), I have nothing to worry about unless I actually run/download an attachment to my own machine, right?
